No matter where you live, no matter your income, no matter your culture – we all share the biological need to provide our bodies with healthy, nutritious food. And, according to the United Nations, 20 percent of our world’s calories come from wheat products and 20 percent of the protein consumed by people in developing countries also comes from wheat foods. That’s why wheat researchers across the globe are working on developing wheat varieties that stand up to tough environmental challenges like drought and frost, utilize less natural resources like water and provide even more nutritional value.
Yet, in the United States, a growing number of Americans have been duped – including celebrities like singer Lady Gaga and Fox News host Bill O’Reilly – into believing recent claims that wheat not only is no longer necessary for strong, healthy bodies, but also that it has nefariously been turned into a “chronic poison” that causes addictive eating habits and obesity.
Touting his book, “Wheat Belly: Lose the Wheat Lose the Weight,” on CBS, cardiologist Dr. William Davis claimed that the semi-dwarf varieties of wheat developed by Dr. Norman Borlaug during the Green Revolution have increased levels of a protein called gliadin that cause Americans today to eat an extra 440 calories a day because the peptides that form as gliadin breaks down stimulate hunger. Some nutritionists appearing on programs like “The View” are supporting this claim that wheat is extremely detrimental to human health.
Dr. Glenn Gaesser, Arizona State University professor and director of the Healthy Lifestyles Research Center, rebuked gluten-free proponents in the Capital Press, saying, “There’s the lingering perception there that carbs are somehow bad, grains in particular. Much of that is based on conjecture; it’s nonsense. It claims that wheat is the cause of all our problems, that it stimulates appetite, but that’s just not true.”
Dr. Brett Carver, wheat breeder at Oklahoma State University and chair of the National Wheat Improvement Committee, also rebuked these claims in an interview with the Oklahoma Farm Report. He reported that modern wheat breeding has not changed protein composition or protein amounts of the wheat, further stating that there is not sufficient evidence to claim the protein itself has changed. Additionally, a study published in the July 1, 2012, edition of the Journal of Nutrition examined 45 other studies and 21 randomized-controlled trials and reported that individuals who regularly consumed whole grains, versus those who never or rarely consumed whole grains, had a 26 percent lower risk of Type II diabetes, a 21 percent lower risk of cardiovascular disease and consistently had less weight gain during an eight to 13 year period.
According to the Wheat Foods Council’s September issue of Kernels, about 1 percent of the population has celiac disease, and another estimated 6 percent suffer from gluten sensitivity. For these people, gluten-free products are medically necessary. But this relatively small population alone does not account for the fact that in the United States, the gluten-free market grew 30 percent each year between 2006 and 2010, according to a 2011 report by Packaged Facts. In fact, according to a July study from the American Journal of Gastroenterology, 1.6 million people in the United States are on a gluten-free diet, even though they have not been diagnosed with celiac disease.
So, what are these fad diet followers missing out on? Nothing but extra calories, according to Dr. Davis. However, a recent article in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics reported that average, healthy adults receive no health benefits at all from following a gluten-free diet. Gaesser’s paper “Gluten-Free Diet: Imprudent Dietary Advice for the General Population,” that reviewed all the published scientific studies concluded that gluten-free diets are not an effective weight-loss method and he even found the converse to be true – gluten-free products often contain more added fats and sugars than gluten-containing versions.
In reality, gluten-free dieters often don’t receive enough of some vital nutrients that are essential to proper body function, including fiber, iron, B vitamins, antioxidants and folic acid.
According to the Wheat Foods Council, women of child-bearing age, in particular, need the folic acid provided in enriched grains because they have played a vital role in preventing neural tube defects. The Flour Fortification Initiative works worldwide to encourage countries to fortify their wheat with important vitamins or minerals. As of August 2012, 74 countries have either voluntary or mandatory fortification requirements. Fortifying flour with folic acid protects 60 babies a day across the globe from neural tube defects. According to Kernels, since folic acid fortification was required in enriched grain in 1968, these types of defects, like spina bifida, have decreased by 36 percent in the United States alone. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention acknowledged that enriched grains, not vitamin supplements, are the number one source of folic acid for women of child bearing age and named this achievement in May 2011 as one of the top 10 public health achievements of the last decade.
Even more impressive is the impact of the development of the same semi-dwarf wheat that Dr. Davis calls poison. Semi-dwarf wheat was developed by Dr. Borlaug, known as the father of the Green Revolution and the scientist who saved millions of people from starvation.
When Dr. Borlaug started his revolutionary work in the 1940s in Mexico, crops were plagued by disease and often could not yield even enough to help farmers feed themselves. Through conventional crossbreeding, he and his team developed new varieties of wheat that could resist disease like rust and had shorter, stiffer stems that could support a larger head of wheat – allowing more wheat to be grown per acre of land. The wheat he developed provided food for millions around the world. At the time of his death in 2009, the New York Times reported that half of the world’s population went to bed at night having consumed grain descended from Borlaug’s high-yielding varieties. That same article named Dr. Borlaug “the plant scientist who did more than anyone else in the 20th century to teach the world to feed itself.”
Today, wheat consumption around the world continues to increase because people recognize its nutritional value. At USW, we work in more than 100 countries demonstrating how wheat grown in the United States provides better quality flour for the world’s needs. In the Philippines, we work with flour millers to promote bread consumption in a campaign called “Mabuhay Tinapay” or “Live Better with Bread!” In South Korea, Taiwan and China, we are working with government officials, millers and bakers to define and promote consumption of nutritious whole wheat products. In Mexico, our staff even goes to local schools to help elementary school children understand where their bread comes from and why it is good for them.
We believe in the wheat grown by American farmers every year. And, we believe that through modern technology wheat will be even better in the future – for the farmer and for the consumer. So no matter whether you eat flat bread, steamed buns, noodles or bagels, know that the U.S. wheat used in these products will provide your body with the healthy nutrients it needs and the great quality you deserve.
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